LinuxQuestions.org - Introduction

Hello! Although this is actually my 3rd on these forums, I thought it might be apropriate to make a formal introduction, as I expect I'll become something of a regular here in the near future.

What brings me to the forums is my recent (re-)migration from MS OSs. You see, waaaaaay back in the day I used (IIRC) Slackware 2.x for a while, but never really got the hang of it. I ended up going back to MS OSs becasue, at the time, all the applications I needed were on that platform. Fast foreward to today: I hate M$ on principal, I am no longer dependant on applications that are available only on their platform(s), and the few Windows-only apps that I do need can be made to run on a Linux box with WINE (yay!). So, I am finally, finally, FINALLY forcing myself away from Windows and (back) into the use of an OS that doesn't suck.

I suspect the conversion will be a bit easier for me than for the average person, as am not without computer skills in general; although my *NIX knowledge is virtually nonexistant, in the Windows world, my skills and experience place me within the top, say, 80th percentile, I have long built systems both mundane and fantastic, and I have even done some coding in the past. We'll see how much that background benefits me. :)

My current daily-use machine is a humble IBM X21, although I have plans to purchase either an X32, or a Sony T-series in the near future. I also have an older AMD/KT333-based desktop that I use on the rare occasion that I play games, tinker with Lightwave, or do other CPU power-reliant activities such as ripping & encoding DVDs and et cetera.

After some study, I have decided that Slackware (still) is the distro that best suits my needs and preferences, and although I am aware that Slack is often held as a distro that is more difficult for newbies to use, I certainly feel up to the task. Thanks in advance for the help I'm to recieve here, and feel free to lend me any pointers you think I might find helpful.

-Surfrider (from SoCal :))